7:02 pm | August 22, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State on Wednesday night suspended Urban Meyer for the first three games of this season after a two-week investigation found that the coach mishandled domestic assault allegations made against former assistant coach Zach Smith and misrepresented what he knew about the situation in a public statement in July.
Meyer was suspended without pay from interacting with the football team through Sept. 2. He can rejoin the team at that point, but will not be able to coach in games against Oregon State, Rutgers and No. 16 TCU.
Meyer said his allegiance to former mentor and Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, Zach Smith’s grandfather, clouded his judgment and caused him to miss red flags about the former assistant’s behavior.
“I followed my heart and not my head,” Meyer said in a news conference. “… I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt.”
Ohio State also suspended athletic director Gene Smith without pay for more than two weeks. His suspension will take effect Aug. 31 and will finish Sept. 16. Smith said he failed as a leader to alert others to red flags about Zach Smith’s conduct after he learned that police were investigating accusations of domestic abuse in 2015.
“Although neither Urban Meyer nor Gene Smith condoned or covered up the alleged domestic abuse by Zach Smith, they failed to take sufficient management action relating to Zach Smith’s misconduct and retained an Assistant Coach who was not performing as an appropriate role model for OSU student-athletes,” the school said in a statement outlining the investigation’s findings. “Permitting such misconduct to continue is not consistent with the values of the University and reflects poorly on Coach Meyer, Athletic Director Smith, and the University. Their handling of this matter did not exhibit the kind of leadership and high standards that we expect of our Athletic Director, Head Coach, Assistant Coaches and all on the football staff.”
Ohio State placed Meyer on paid administrative leave Aug. 1, shortly after Courtney Smith, Zach Smith’s ex-wife, said in an interview with Stadium that she believed Meyer and others at the football program knew that her ex-husband was abusing her in 2015 and failed to do anything to stop it. Meyer fired Zach Smith on July 23 after a pattern of past allegations of abuse came to light in a report by college football reporter Brett McMurphy.
Meyer initially said he was previously unaware of any domestic issues between the Smiths that occurred during the time that Zach Smith was a coach at Ohio State. He backtracked shortly after being placed on leave, saying instead that he misspoke when first answering questions about Smith and that he followed proper protocol in reporting the incident in 2015.
Lead investigator Mary Jo White said she believes Meyer did not deliberately lie when answering questions in a July 24 interview, but he misrepresented what he knew about 2015. She said her investigative team believes Meyer has a “sincere commitment” to respecting women.
When asked during Wednesday night’s news conference what message he had for Courtney Smith, Meyer said his message to everyone involved in the story was the same: “I’m sorry we’re in this situation.”
Courtney Smith did not immediately respond Wednesday night to phone calls from ESPN seeking a response to Meyer’s suspension and comments.
2:05
Urban Meyer expresses remorse after receiving a 3-game suspension for mishandling domestic assault allegations against former assistant Zach Smith.
Meyer said he supports and trusts university president Michael Drake, who made the decision to suspend him. He said he was not aware of some of Zach Smith’s behavior while he was a coach at Ohio State, but he should have been.
“I wish I could go back and make different decisions, but I can’t,” he said. “These difficult lessons are a constant reminder the duties and obligations that I have as a member of this University and this community. I take full responsibility, I take this responsibility very seriously and I will do better.
Courtney Smith alleged in her interview that she exchanged text messages with Meyer’s wife, Shelley, in 2015 and that Shelley Meyer — who is also a university employee — told her she would let Urban Meyer know about her accusations. Urban Meyer said Wednesday that he was not aware of those text message exchanges.
The board of trustees convened at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning and announced their final decision more than 12 hours later. Drake said the board wanted to take its time in order to be as thorough and equitable as possible, knowing it would not be able to please all parties with the decision.
“We worked to refine our decisions and our actions to be able to do the best we could to achieve those goals,” he said. “It’s a very difficult and complicated situation.”
White said the investigators conducted more than 40 interviews and reviewed 60,000 emails, 10,000 text messages and relevant reports from media and police. That information led the board to believe that “the handling of this matter did not exhibit the kind of leadership and high standards that we expect.”
In a statement, the Big Ten said it supported Ohio State’s findings.
“The hiring, retention and firing of institutional personnel lies solely in the hands of the individual institutions and their boards and is not something upon which we would have further comment,” the conference said.
Ryan Day will continue to serve as the fifth-ranked Buckeyes’ interim coach during Meyer’s absence.
Meyer has a 73-8 record in seven years at Ohio State and won the national championship with the Buckeyes following the 2014 season.
He had a 65-15 record at Florida and won two national championships there, following the 2006 season and the ’08 season. His overall record in 17 years at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State is 177-31.
Meyer has a salary of $7.6 million for the 2018 season and is under contract through 2022.
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